Peace in the storm

By Bishop Leonard Fairley

These recent storms have caused so much devastation. It is hard to think about peace, and yet that is exactly what I have been thinking and praying about. I have seen the people called United Methodist in South Carolina offer not only prayers for peace in the storm, but I have proudly watched you live out that peace in the countless ways you offered one another practical measures of help, healing and hospitality.

When I have found myself thinking about peace, I think about two phrases from my first trip to the Holy Land back in 1994. Although they may have nothing to do with the recent devastation of Hurricane Helene, the storm is what brought them to light again. I do not think they are too far from what we need during the storms that appear in our lives, our world, our nation, our church and our communities.

One of the Arabic phrases that our Palestinian Christian bus driver would use when we thought for sure that our bus was about to tumble over some narrow cliff or down some ravine, especially on the road to Jericho, was the word “Inshallah.” This literally means, “If God wills, it will happen.” It reflects a profound sense of humility and trust in God’s wisdom. We could sense it every time the driver used it.

“Shalom” was the Hebrew word we often heard spoken. In its true biblical sense, it means so much more than a simple peace or absence of war. It means so much more than a greeting. It means an inward sense of completeness, tranquility or wholeness. If you greet someone or say goodbye by using the word “shalom,” you are not only speaking peace but saying, “May you be full of well-being” or “may health and prosperity be upon you.”

The world could use a little more shalom, a little more inshallah.

Amid the storms of life, may you find comfort and peace in these words from the hymn writer: “Shalom to you now, shalom, my friends. In all your living and through your loving, Christ be your shalom.”

Inshallah, God willing, even in the storm may God, through Jesus Christ, be your shalom.